Car-door



OOOOOOOO OOOOOO R. l N. 427,369. Patented May 6, 1890.

1 ESSEE:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS G. RUFFHEAD, OF WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,369, dated May 6, 1890.

Application filed August l0, 1889. Serial No. 320,379. (No model.)

To all whom, i5-may concern.-

Be it known that l, THOMAS G. RUFFHEAD', of Villiamsport, in the county of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car- Doors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in car-doors; and it consists in, iirst, a car-door provided with shoes for its lower edge, the lower ends of the shoes being pronged or bifurcated, and the bearing-surfaces between the prongs, which rest upon the tops of the rails, and the inner sides of the prongs, which bear against the sides of the supporting-rails, being curved; second, in the arrangement and combination of parts, which will be more fully described hereinafter.

The objects of my invention are to curve the inner bearing-surface of the shoes which support the lower edge of the door where the surfaces come in contactwith the supportingrail, so as to allow the shoes to slide freely over the edge of the rail and to pass over any dirt or ice that may accumulate upon the rail, and to provide the casting at the upper end of the door with a groove, so that it will ride freely over bolt-heads, and thus do away with the necessity of having to countersink the heads of screws or bolts, as has heretofore been found necessary.

. Figure l is a horizontal vertical section showing the inner edges of the door and the door-jamb. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a shoe and its bearing-rail. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the shoe applied to the lower edge of the door. Figs. 4L and 5 are horizontal sections showing curves upon which the lower portions of the shoe may be formed. Fig. 6 is a perspective of the casting which is applied to the upper edge of the door. Fig. 7 is a perspective of a car-door, showing a casting and shoe applied thereto and engaging with the guiding-rails.

A represents the car-door, which has its inner edge beveled at any angle between twenty and eighty-five degrees. If awide bearing is desired the edge of the door will be given a suitable angle; but if but a short bearing is needed the edge of the door need not be beveled at an angle of more than eighty-five degrees. The particular angle at which the edge of the door may be beveled is immaterial, as it may be given any angle thatv may be desired between twenty and eighty-iive degrees.

The door-jamb B is provided with two offsets C D. The one C is to receive the edge of the door, while the one D is made to receive the plate or strip F, which is recessed in the edge of the door, and which projects beyond the' door any desired distance. rlhe two offsets or rabbets C D enable a tight joint to be formed when the dooris closed. The bottom of the door is also beveled inward and pro the door and the rabbets formed in the jamb B, sparks from the locomotive and rain and snow are perfectly excluded.

To the upper edge of the car-door are secured any suitable number of castings or supports G, which are so shaped as to catch over both the upper and under lower edges of the su pport-ing-rail H, and each casting G is provided with a groove I-inits side, so as to readily pass over the heads of bolts and screws, by means of which the rail H is secured to the side of the car. Heretofore it has been found necessary to countersink the heads of the bolts and screws, and this is done at the expense of considerable time and labor. To do away with this work, the grooves are formed in the castings, and these grooves allow the castings to pass freely by all projecting boltheads and screws upon the outer side of the rail.

To the lower edges of the door are secured the shoes J, which are provided with the prongs O at their lower ends, so as to straddle over the top of the lower supporting-rail L, and which prongs O are given any desired curve upon their inner sides, which bear against two of the sides of the rail L. I do not limit myself to any particular' curve, for the prongs maybe given any amountof curve that may be considered necessary. The prongs shown in Fig. 4 are within the curvature of a circle which is more than one inch in diameter and less than eight inches, and those in Fig. 5 are wit-hin a circle of more than four and less than twenty-five inches in diameter. The lower edge of the bearing-surface P of the shoe J is also made upon a suitable curve, sothat only its central portion will rest upon the top edge of the rail L. By thus curving the bearing-surface P and the inner sides of the prongs O the shoesare made to pass freely over any crooks or bends that may be in the slide-rails upon which the door is mounted or any dirt or ice that may accumulate on the rail. Should this bearing-rail from any cause sink below a point at which these lower shoes will not support the door, the door will be supported by the upper castings, which are shaped as shown7 for the purpose of catching over both the upper and lower edges of the upper rail.

As stated above, the particular curvature p of the prongs and the bearing-surface of the lower shoes or castings or the angle at which the inner edge of the door is beveled is immaterial, as a greater or less amount of curvature or bevel may be used, as may be thought necessary, without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml. A car-door having shoes provided with prongs on their lower ends, and which are curved upon their inner surfaces, substantially 'as shown and described.

2. A cardoor having shoes which are pronged at their lower ends, the bearing-surfaces of the shoes where they rest upon the top edge of the bearing-rail being curved, substantially as described.

3. A car-door having shoes which are pronged at their lower ends, the bearing-surfaces of the shoe and the inner surface of the prongs or projections being curved where they corne in contact with the rail,.substan tially as set forth.

4. The combination of the rails H L, secured to the side of the car, the car-dolor having a beveled edge, the plate F, secured to and overlapping` the edge of the door, the casting G, secured to the upper edge of the door and provided with the groove I, and the shoe J, provided with the prongs O, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOS. G. RUFFHEAD.

Vitnesses:

C. R. HARRIS, F. C. RUFFHEAD. 

